Effect of different levels of fertilizer and plant spacing on growth of taro (Colocasia esculenta L.) genotype under Marathwada conditions

Abstract

The present experiment was carried out during the year 2023-2024. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications. All the plant growth characters were taken at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after planting (DAP). Three levels of fertilizer dose viz., F1[100% recommended dose of NPK (80:60:60 kg/ha), F2 [125% of recommended dose of NPK (100:75:75 kg/ha), F3 [75% of recommended dose of NPK (60:45:45 kg/ha) and three levels of plant spacing viz., S1 (60 cm x 45 cm), S2 (60 cm x 60 cm), S3 (60 cm x 30 cm) were used as treatment variables. The growth attributes of taro viz., Days to sprouting (5.27), percent sprouting (100%), days to first leaf emergence (6.24), plant height (86.70 cm), number of leaves per plant (6.30), number of suckers per plant (7.64), leaf area (647.60 cm2), petiole length (79.90 cm) at 120 DAP respectively was found significantly superior in treatment combination F2S2 [125% of RDF (100:75:75 kg/ha at 60 x 60 cm spacing) than rest of the treatment combinations under study.